Adrift In a New Land
by Dream-Fuel
Summary: Siblings depart their home to live under the guardianship an Uncle they hardly know in small town which can barely be found on a map all while their mother resides in a hospital awaiting a vital operation. An event occurs which changes everything. How will they survive in this new land?
1. Chapter 1

A/N

Decided to take a stab at Jericho story as I was enthralled with it when it was aired. When creating fanfiction, I never truly focus on the main characters or main story of what has already been done, but I create my own characters and place them in situations and plots within that IP.

Not sure how often this story will be updated, but if it gets enough traffic, I'll try to dedicate more time in writing. Thanks for reading.

* * *

Derrick Boot sat slumped in the cushioned chair with his chin propped up on the palm of his hand. He was staring blankly out the small window of the plane watching the clouds zoom swiftly past as well as the landscape as it transformed far below.

In his semi short life of only seventeen years, Derrick had only on two other occasions traveled by airplane. The first was when he was quite young, and that was to Disney Land. The second was in his early teens, at that was to Hawaii. Both of them were intended as vacations therefore a pleasant to travel towards. This trip though was something that anyone would dread. It had Derrick placing himself of what a convict might feel as they traveled to their final destination, which ended with lifetime sentence in prison. He would have no friends, no unnecessary luxuries, and absolutely no fun. He soon would be landing in Denver of Colorado.

Derrick vaguely heard his name being called by the occupant to his right. He chose to ignore it in hopes she would leave him alone. He was still fuming and was in no condition for pointless small talk. He was one hundred percent against this decision that forced him to not only leave his senior year of High School behind, which meant no chance of being seen by college scouts, but also his friends, his teammates of the baseball team, and the most important of all, was Amy Vo, his love since seventh grade of Jr. High. She was the most difficult to not only leave behind, but to persuade that he would indeed one day return to her, even if it meant he had to hitchhike or walk back home.

Amy occupied his thoughts more than anything, even baseball which was saying much since Derrick spoke about it constantly to anyone willing to listen. It was not on a sexual level as most would think, but something further, platonic almost. She was gorgeous yes, whether she believed it or not when he said so, but she wasn't that way in the beginning. When he first met her, she was the four eyed, messy haired, nerdy girl that blended in among any crowed in the Jr. High halls. Derrick had no idea back then of just how much she would mean to him. He recalled all the times in recent short school year where they had hid away together at lunch and she lay on the grass with her head in his lap. He would run his fingers through her long black hair while they spoke about-

"Damn it Derrick!"

Derrick was instantly roused from his reminiscing and snapped his head to the chair next to him.

"What the hell do you want?" He just about screamed. "The flight will be over soon!"

"Jeez," she began. "Calm down before you pop a testicle or something. I called your name like three times. Just wanted some beef jerky." She rolled her eyes looked away from him. "What strange hairy thing decided to make a home up in your ass?" She mumbled.

"Shut up Alex." It was just about the weakest comeback that he could've said, but he didn't want to get in trouble with the airline over a yelling match, or worse, an Air Marshall that might be aboard. Alex was Derrick's younger sister by two years and he swore she took every opportunity to annoy him when she could.

Derrick reached under his seat, grabbed his backpack and thrust it into her lap hard while also rudely hitting the passenger in the aisle seat. The man flicked a few angry looks Derrick's way, but said nothing.

"I told you to bring your own bag." He said, and turned his attention back to the window. There was nothing to see now as an overcast sky had appeared below. His thoughts began to wander to Amy again.

Alex of course acted like nothing had happened. She never apologized for Derrick's outbursts which seemed to happen quite a bit. She merely opened the bag in search of the prized jerky.

"You know," Alex said with a mouthful. "You should at least pretend to care more about mom instead of just _her_, which I know you do."

"Don't even," Derrick's temper began to boil over. He stopped himself though before he erupted. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and counted to ten. He could of course never admit it that he thought about Amy more these days than their own mother. It of course made him feel guilty which was Alex's goal was no doubt, and his cheeks began to burn.

He of course loved his mom, but for the past few years she had become somewhat distant. She'd been spending countless hours in her reality business, sometimes leaving before his sister and he were up and coming home way after sunset. He understood why in a way. As a single parent she had to provide for two children. She had been able to grow a small one room leased suite to an attractive small office building with numerous amounts of clients and associates. They of course could handle themselves for the most part, but the mother/son relationship had suffered. She was now sitting in a life threatening condition. It seemed she pulled a complete 180, and demanded things from Derrick that she had ignored for quite some time. She was currently a guest at the Mayo Clinic.

"Look Alex," he said with no touch of malice. "Regardless of what you believe, I do care about what happens to her." He shrugged and spoke in more somber tone. "I just think we didn't have to leave home. I could've taken care of things there. She didn't have to send us to some bass ackwards place in Kansas under the guardianship of some Uncle that probably doesn't even know what we look like, let alone who we are. I sure as hell don't remember him none. When's the last time he saw us? When I was five or so?"

Alex stifled a chuckle by covering her mouth with her hands. "And do you," she began. "Think that you would be able to take care of both us and the house while she was away?" She began counting on her fingers. "Do the laundry, pay the bills, take care of the yard, clean, cook, grocery shop, and drive us to school? All of that mind you while you have baseball practice almost everyday, have no job to speak of, no license, and tend to spend hours on the phone at night with Amy?"

It felt like a slap to the face, which it should have. Derrick hadn't thought of everything that it took to run a home and watching over someone besides himself. He selfishly just wanted a place to sleep and continue his life where it stood, mainly Amy, prospects of college, and baseball. He certainly had no intention of playing Mr. Mom.

In the absence of a response Alex asked, "You think she'll be alright, don't you?"

Derrick quickly analyzed their situation; what he knew, what things were explained to them by doctors and specialist, what their mother had said, and how things were back home now. He couldn't say for sure how things would turn out. All that could be done was to have patience and hope that she would move up the liver transplant list quickly before the worst should happen.

Derrick turned to look straight into her eyes. "She'll be just fine Alex. Everything will work out right, and I bet we'll be back before spring." He gave her a closed lip smile and poked her playfully in the ribs with his elbow.

"Hey! Cut it out." She laughed.

The plane shuddered a bit roughly and seemed to drop down thirty feet. Several shocked gasps and groans filled the cabin from around the both of them. Alex looked around alarmed while Derrick's own stomach did loops within him. He grasped the arm rests tightly while trying to not throw up. He quickly got images of one of the engines breaking apart and falling from the wing leaving them in trouble. He dared not to look outside the window.

The seatbelt icon lit up and the captain came on over the plane's intercom.

"_Attention all flight crew and passengers, we are experiencing some mild turbulence as we are nearing Denver. It's a quite bit stormy over the city's skies, nothing to worry about. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened for the remainder of the flight. We will be descending shortly. Thank you."_

"Guess it's too late to opt for the bus then?" Alex asked.

Derrick closed his eyes as the plane shuddered some more. "Yep, too late."

Derrick retreated to a place in his mind, with him on the pitcher's mound. He was trying to get out of a sticky situation with batters in scoring position on second and third in a tie game with two outs to go. It helped to calm him, focusing on his pitches. Every time some turbulence occurred in the world around him, he threw a pitch within. First one was low, ball. Another shudder, this time a strike. Another, this one fouled off the tip into the crowd. . .


	2. Chapter 2

Derrick and Alex exited the plane into the terminal with Derrick the more relieved of the two to be on solid ground again. His logical side knew that planes were quite safe. He had heard of the better statistics for crashes than cars, but he hated when all he could do is sit back passively watching as things happened that were beyond his control.

The turbulence didn't seem to affect Alex at all. She was smiling as the she took in the cooler temperature of the Denver International Airport around her. Derrick thought about pulling his light jacket out from his backpack, but decided against it for now. They were thanked as they walked by one of the airline's employees for choosing to fly with them. Derrick just nodded in their general direction and began to look for the way out of the terminal to the baggage claim.

In pre 9/11 days, friends and family could meet you right at the gate when you exited the plane, but now, you could not even clear security without a legit boarding pass. They would have to find their Uncle somewhere past that.

They finally made their way past a checkpoint and watched as some passengers from their flight were greeted warmly by loved ones and friends. Others just walked past to find the carousel to get their bags. Derrick did his best to look around families and past people milling about to look for their Uncle. He visualized the most recent picture that his mother had shown the both of them but had no luck making a match of those around him. A pang of worry began to immediately gnaw at him.

Looking from her watch Alex asked, "Mom told him 12:35 right?"

Derrick made one final sweep around with his head. "Uh huh."

"So where is he then?" She began looking around frantically herself.

Derrick being the older sibling knew that he'd have to take charge and keep things from escalating. The last thing he needed was Alex running around screaming for their Uncle to show himself. Several scenarios went through his mind. Their Uncle could just have been delayed after all. Slept in, car trouble, or bad parking? He quickly made a bee line towards the luggage claim.

"Where're you going?" She called behind him.

He shot back over his shoulder, "To get our bags shortstop. Do I need to hold your hand or what?"

Alex detested baseball about as equally as Derrick loved it. Calling her shortstop wasn't a nickname she much cared for. He teased and always implied that regardless of above average height parents that they had, she had stopped growing and would remain short for the remainder of her life. She stood a couple of inches over five feet.

With a scowl on her face, she jogged to catch up with him. "I told you how many times to stop calling me that."

"But it fits you so well." Derrick patted the top of her hair a few times. With a grunt she shot her arm upwards to shake him off. He had peaked at just about six foot, much like their father.

They located the proper carousel and lounged by it until it finally started up and released bags into the bottom. No doubt the bags had been abused quite a bit by ground crew from both airports. Derrick hoped they at least remembered to put them on the plane. He couldn't begin to imagine how horrible it would be to have no belongings and wear the same outfit for a couple of days until his bag was returned.

Alex seemed to care little to look for their bags. She continued to look around, possibly hoping to spy their Uncle.

After a few minutes Derrick gave a small cheer when he saw their bags. He pulled their bags off one at a time and placed them at his side. He now had a decision to make. Sit idly and wait to see if he showed up, find someone that worked at the airport that might help them, or just call his mom. He tossed all of those immediately, not wanting to seem like he couldn't handle a simple situation.

He reached into his pocket for his cell phone to call his Uncle's home. He toggled the power button, but the screen was black and the phone would not turn on. Derrick groaned remembering that he had fallen asleep last night talking to Amy and saying their goodbyes.

"Alex, can I use your cell?" He asked using his most pleasant voice.

She was messing with her mp3 player with ear buds in and just shook her head in silence.

Derrick pleaded with her, "Come on Alex, we need to try and call him."

She sighed. "As you should know dummy I haven't really had a chance to try and get into any cell towers here yet. My phone is set for back home at the moment."

Alex was a techie by nature and loved to mess with anything and everything electronic. She currently had an old Droid smart phone, not currently part of any carrier's network, but cracked and hacked so she do as she wished with it. She would test and probe cell towers with it until she was able to piggyback on their channels and use it without paying anything. She would also break into any wireless network she could find and utilize it as well. One time that Derrick knew about was when she messed with a traffic signal near their home to change to green by the touch of a button on her phone anytime she wished. She of course knew how illegal all these things were and never publicized her actions except with her closest circle of similar techie friends. She tried to explain multitudes of times to Derrick of what and how she was doing all these things, but it was another language to him and he understood little.

Derrick was about to throw an insult to her, but took a deep breath. He did have some change in his pocket from a soda he bought when they departed. He looked around and saw a bank of phones tucked away in a corner.

"Watch our bags, I'm gonna try to give him a call. Maybe he's just sleeping or something." Alex was focused on her music, but gave a slight nod. He made his way towards the phones with his backpack still on.

Derrick searched inside the backpack for a manila envelope that their mother had entrusted to him which held both of their documents inside. It included school transcripts, medical records, and legal documents which allowed their Uncle to have temporary guardianship of them. It also held a sheet of expectations that their mother had of them on how they should behave and respect their Uncle. There was a white envelope on the bottom that held quite a bit of cash which was to be delivered to their Uncle to assist with taking care of them. Derrick still thought it was strange she didn't right a check. Perhaps he didn't have a bank account. Or maybe there was no bank where he lived; it was a rather small town. Derrick rustled around until he found a small half sheet of paper that had the contact information of Edward Calhoun, their Uncle.

Derrick put some change in the phone and dialed the number listed. As the line rang on the other side, Derrick saw a terminal security officer patrolling the area and taking notice to Alex. The officer paused and watched her for a few moments. Alex was currently moving around dancing aimlessly all alone at the now dead luggage carousel without care of the world. The officer looked not far away to Derrick at the phone. Derrick quickly put on a blank face and turned his gaze to the thin carpet under his feet while willing his Uncle to answer the phone.

A few moments passed and Derrick gambled a look up. The officer seemed to be contemplating the both of them. Derrick could only imagine what he thought of them. Derrick could easily pass for eighteen by his height and light stubble on his face. Alex however, was easily identifiable as a minor. By looking at them, it could be hard to discern they were brother and sister. Where Derrick had light brown hair and tanned skin from being outside most of the time mostly from baseball, Alex hair was short, her hair parted in the middle to the sides, dyed black with purple highlights, and had fairly pale skin caused by being pent up in her room doing who knows what on her computers all day. Derrick normally dressed in jeans and t-shirt while Alex tended to wear boy's Dickie's shorts and tank tops.

The line continued to ring and Derrick almost chuckled at the idea of this security officer believing her to be his girlfriend or something. That he might be taking her across state lines away from her parents. If the officer wanted to question the both of them he couldn't say anything to stop him. The truth would come out eventually, but they might miss their Uncle or be detained until sunset. He didn't want the hassle or headache. He just wanted his damn Uncle Edward to answer the phone.

After was seemed like a hundred rings Derrick hung up the phone. No damn answering machine? He put the manila folder back in his bag and zipped it closed. By some miracle from above, he heard the officer's radio squawk. He watched as the officer turn his back to him and answered a call. He immediately raced off in another direction within the airport forgetting all about this random pair of teenagers lounging by the exit.

Derrick rushed up behind Alex and pulled her ear buds out violently.

"Hey-

"Quiet." Derrick commanded. "Grab your bag and let's go." He lifted his suitcase and headed towards an exit.

Alex followed suit and called out, "Is he outside or something?"

Derrick said nothing as he passed the doors outside by the street. The cool air hit his face and was quite welcomed. He began to look around for a cab.

Cars and a few buses were bustling on around the pickup/drop-off area of the street. People were quickly pulling luggage out of trunks or hopping into cars and dashing away. Everyone seemed occupied and paid no attention to Derrick. He saw a man standing by a cab a ways up the street reading a folded up newspaper with an unlit stub of cigar in his mouth. Derrick carried his case towards the cabbie hoping Alex would follow.

He heard her protests from behind. "Where are we going?"

"Excuse me." Derrick asked politely.

The cabbie lowered the newspaper to look at Derrick. "Yes?"

"Uh, are you taking fares right now?" Derrick asked. The clacking wheels of Alex's suitcase paused behind him.

"I guess I am." The cabbie answered. His eyes slowly moved suspiciously to Alex. "Need a ride to the parking lot or something?"

Derrick shook his head. "No sir, looking for a ride to Jericho." He said it while acting as taking cabs was something he did all the time and was not just some goofy teen in High School. Derrick could feel that Alex wanted to jump in the conversation but was glad she kept silent.

The cabbie cocked his head and looked to the overcast sky. "Jericho. . .Jericho. Jericho in Kansas?" He finally asked.

"That's the place, can you take us there?"

The reply was a hearty chuckle and a head shaking side to side.

Derrick cheeks flushed and he stood patiently till this man was finished.

"No," He finally said. "Don't believe I can. That's a bit of a drive. I'd guess. . .four hours or so from here. I only do locally sorry."

Derrick sighed. "Well, can you tell me someone who would?"

"Might cost you a bit."

Derrick shook his head. "We can pay."

The cabbie pondered and looked around at other drivers in the vicinity. He clicked his tongue and shot a nod across the street to a man sitting in a shuttle van. "He'd do it. Got nothing better to do I'd imagine."

"Okay thanks." Derrick said. "Come on Alex."

"What are we doing?"

They quickly crossed the street and received a honk from a passing car. Derrick waved apologetically. "Getting us where we need to go, okay?"

"Did you talk to Uncle Edward? Did he say to take a cab?"

They pulled their bags over the curb coming behind the shuttle. "He didn't answer. Probably just forgot about us or had car trouble. We'll be fine, come on."

"What if he isn't there?"

Derrick shrugged as he had it all planned out. "We stay in a motel or something, they should have one there."

Derrick walked to the driver's side window where the driver was napping. He knocked twice with a knuckle. The man startled awake, his sunglasses almost fell from his face and looked to Derrick. He rolled the window down. He studied both of them with blurry eyes behind the sunglasses.

In a dry voice he spoke "Yeah, what do you want?"

"I was told you're the man to get a ride to Jericho. A bit east from here."

"Really?" He said with a yawn while stretching as best as he could in the van. "Paying with cash?"

"Yes." Derrick responded.

Smiling, "Then I'm Glen." He said.

Derrick stepped back as the door was opened and Glen stepped out almost stumbling. A few empty energy drink cans fell to the sidewalk with clangs. Derrick briefly had second thoughts about this driver.

Glen eyed the both of them a little more carefully. "Not runaways are you? I'm not going to get it with the law for taking you across state lines?"

"Of course not. I'm Derrick and this is my sister Alex. Were heading to our Uncle's place. He's our guardian for the time being. Got all the paperwork and everything if you wanna see it?" Derrick jabbed a thumb to his backpack.

Glen shook his head and slid the door open. "Just making sure. I'll put your bags in the back. Hop in."

Derrick climbed in and moved over to the opposite side. Alex stood livid with arms crossed across her chest. "Get in." Derrick commanded.

"Just so you know," She said. "If Uncle Edward blows a gasket about using his money and not waiting for him, you better back me up that I was totally against this. Okay?"

"Noted. Now get you ass in here."

She reluctantly got in and buckled up. Glen finished putting their luggage in the back and closed the doors. He got back in the van and adjusted the mirrors and rubbed his eyes. "So about payment?" He began and he turned to look back at them.

"Right," Derrick said. "What'd you think is fair?"

Glen apparently began calculating in his head. "I'd say at least four hundred plus two gas fill ups."

Derrick nodded. "Done." And he settled himself in the seat.

"Don't mean to be pushy," Glen said. "But I'm going to need see something up front. Can't be going around giving free trips to everyone I see and all."

From his backpack he withdrew money from the small envelope. "Here's two hundred. The rest comes when we arrive."

"Okay." And Glen took the bills. "Think you guys will like hundreds of miles of farm country compared to Arizona?"

Puzzled Alex asked, "How did you know?"

Glen winked to her. "Couple things, the Phoenix departure baggage tags for one." He then nodded to Derrick. "And the Diamondbacks fan traveling with ya."

Derrick was wearing a sedona red hat with the black snake logo of the Diamondbacks baseball team.

Alex gave a sour face mumbled about something about 'guys' and their 'sports' and put her ear buds back in to tune the world out for a while.

Smiling, Glen turned back around in the seat. "They sure as hell did better than the Rockies this season, that's for sure.

Derrick smiled and Glen started the van. "Mind some radio?" He asked.

"Go ahead." Derrick said.

Glen switched on a talk radio station where the hosts were giving an update to an incident with troops in the Middle East possibly opening fire on a civilian village. Glen pulled into traffic heading for the highway.

Derrick rested his head on the back of the seat and wondered what Amy and his friends were doing back home at this time.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N

I used a map for Jericho I found online that had several places in town highlighted. There are a couple different maps used for Jericho that one can find, so please forgive me for any errors that I have made. I did create some places of my own, first seen here is a neighborhood, it was not in the TV show.

* * *

With an arm placed on his shoulder, Alex jostled Derrick awake. He had been nodding off and on the whole trip towards Jericho. The flight, even though short in length, drained him of his energy.

"I think we're here." She announced.

It took a few seconds for Derrick's mind to adjust to the interior of the shuttle and its exterior surroundings. He rubbed a palm on the sides of his chin. He hoped he hadn't been drooling while he was sleeping.

Glen had apparently exited the interstate that shot straight from Denver to Jericho and the van was making its way slowly down a street.

"So," Glen began. "Where exactly am I dropping the two of you off?"

"Um." Derrick muttered. He quickly pulled his backpack to his lap and began digging for his Uncle's address.

Alex kept silent. She was busy with looking alternately out the front windshield and her own taking in the town, which would be her temporary home for hopefully a short amount of time.

Glen turned the van again. Alex looked past Derrick through his window and saw a wood and bricked building called Bailey's Tavern. The forest green painted wood complemented well with the red bricks. Derrick threw a look at it as well. It looked to be a bar of some sort advertising hot food and cold beer. There was an upper floor to it as well. Perhaps the owner lived above their business? Alex glanced to the roof of the building and saw a satellite dish atop it. She smiled in hopes that their Uncle might have one as well.

They were turning left onto Main Street passing another brick building. It was a large two story aged building with many windows on both stories shaded by a few trees. It was the Town Hall for Jericho. There was no current activity that Alex noticed. The last thing she saw before they completed the turn was an eagle monument in the front in between two flagpoles, one with the Kansas state flag and the U.S. flag.

Derrick finally located the paper and read the address aloud to Glen. Glen gave a small shake of his head and pulled in a spot on the right.

Derrick glanced out at some place called Gracie's Leigh's Supermarket. "What's up?" He asked.

Glen turned off the van and opened his door. He turned his head to the back. "I've only been here one other time. Figured you'd have exact directions." He got out of the van and stretched. From outside he said, "Probably going to have to ask someone local. I'm gonna mosey over to that bar and relieve myself. I'll be back in a few." He pointed to Gracie's. "Check inside there maybe to ask where he lives." Glen then strolled away leaving Derrick and Alex alone.

Derrick briefly wondered if Glen would sample some local brew while inside. He sighed and wished he 'd charged his phone to use as a GPS. He slid open his door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. "You coming or what?" He asked to Alex.

"Yeah, I could use some caffeine." She hopped out next him and yawned.

They both looked around to what was considered downtown for Jericho. There weren't many people out and about. Derrick thought perhaps that most places must close early in a farming town such as this. Farmer's were early to bed early to rise right? There were some people walking towards cars or entering businesses across the street, namely a bank. There was a woman and a child milling at some table next door on a laptop.

Alex face lit up when she saw it was an Internet house of sorts. The Cyberjolt Café. She wondered if they had a gaming rig that she might be able to purchase time for. Her druid, Nalri, might get to see some love in World of Warcraft while she was here.

Derrick noticed how the town's people didn't dress so differently from their large city counterparts as they thought they might before arriving. There was the occasional flannel and overalls, but that was it.

Derrick closed the van and wondered if he should lock it for Glen. But then tried to remember if Glen took the keys with him or not. He shrugged it off with the idea that crime in this town was probably pretty low. There probably has never been a murder here.

Alex went inside the supermarket first with Derrick following a few steps behind. Right away he almost laughed on how small this 'grocer' was. Just a couple aisles with some display counters and wall racks. Alex made off towards one side.

"Want a soda?" She called back to him.

"Nah." He responded. He waited patiently by the checkout counter while a woman with noticeably bright red hair was paying for her groceries. He kept his hands in his pockets and waited while humming a tune.

The woman finished paying, grabbed her bags and left the store. Derrick noticed that the cashier smiled warmly and thanked the her beforehand, but as soon as she exited, the smile faded and she mumbled something under her breath. Derrick only caught a few vague words that included 'husband' and 'cheating'.

Derrick stepped up to the counter gave a meek, "Hi." The cashier looked to be a little older than his mother. Her dark hair was tied back tight and she wore regular clothes, a light denim long skirt and blouse. No uniform? That was strange to Derrick, but probably not uncommon for this town.

The cashier took him in from his head down towards his empty hands. "You need ice, stamps, or something?" She asked him cautiously.

Her accent wasn't as thick as Derrick had expected all of Kansas to sound like. He could get used to it. He figured she took him for a passing through kind of person, certainly not a resident of Jericho. "My sister is getting a soda, but I was wondering," he said pulling out the folded paper with the address on it. "If you might be able to tell me where this house is. Please." He added. Derrick then read the address to her.

"Red Fox Road huh?" She said.

Derrick nodded. "Which way is that from here?" He hoped it wasn't an old wooden shack on the outskirts of the town on some abandoned farm with no plumbing or electricity.

"That's in the Meadows." The cashier held her hand out for the paper. "May I?"

Derrick reluctantly handed it over to her. She looked it over and gave a small chuckle.

"Edward Calhoun?" She drew out the last syllable of his surname when she said it.

Alex took this moment to return from the back somewhere and placed two small bottles of Mountain Dew on the counter. Derrick looked them over.

"I said I didn't want one."

"Well Sherlock," she mocked with an English accent. "Did it pass through your mind that they both might be for me?"

Derrick rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You better be buying 'em."

The cashier seemed locked in and mesmerized by Alex. She was giving her a strange look as if she was trying to decide if she was human or something. It was most likely due to the way she was dressed and the way her hair stood out with its bright purple highlights. Alex either seemed not to notice or not to care.

"The Meadows?" Derrick asked.

"Right." She said and looked back to him. She placed a hand on her hip and asked, "How do you all know Crazy Calhoun anyways? Wasn't aware he was ever married or had any kids." She cocked an eyebrow. Her eyes hungered for information.

"Were not his kids, he's our Uncle." Derrick said while shaking his head. He didn't want strange rumors to start floating around this town about their Uncle.

"Ah." She said and gave a thin-lipped smile. Derrick thought she seemed a bit disappointed by the news of no illegitimate children by their Uncle. She took a pen from aside the register and began writing on the paper. "It's just north east of here a bit. Not too far."

As she was writing Alex decided to ask. "Why do you call him Crazy Calhoun?"

The cashier's cheeks turned slightly pink. "It's not an insult, just sorta a nickname I suppose. He just goes on sometimes on little rants about how the end of the world is always just around the corner."

Both Derrick and Alex were aware that their Uncle was a veteran in the Armed Forces and had some battlefield experience. They had only heard bits and pieces of it from their mother. But what they weren't aware of was any post traumatic stress that he might be suffering from that could make him slightly unstable. They always figured he moved out here all those years ago because he wanted a quieter life. Jericho sure seemed the place for that.

"Does everyone in town call him that?" Alex asked concerned.

Derrick was actually amazed at his younger sister. Normally she didn't give anything much attention unless it was something she had a great interest for. But blood is thicker than water as the saying goes.

"Forget I said anything, really." The cashier said. "It's really just harmless. He's an all around okay guy."

Derrick believed that there was more to it, but was glad that Alex seemed to drop it and began fishing for money in her pockets. She of course would never be caught dead with a handbag or purse.

The cashier passed the paper back to Derrick and took Alex's money from her. The paper now had driving instructions with several street names. "Thank you very much." Derrick said.

"You two going to be living with him?" She asked again with focused eyes.

"Yeah just until- Alex began.

"Just visiting for a bit." Derrick broke in. He could tell the cashier was fishing for anything at this point.

"Thanks again." Derrick said holding up the paper with one hand. He then pulled gently on Alex's arm. "Come on, we need to be going."

Alex took her change from the yet again a disappointed cashier and grabbed her sodas.

On the way out they heard. "Tell Eddy that Gracie Leigh sends her regards!"

"What's wrong with you?" Alex asked once outside.

Derrick shook his head slightly. "You wouldn't understand."

Alex scoffed and opened the van. She hopped in and began to immediately down one of her Mountain Dews.

Derrick stayed outside looking towards the Bailey's place looking for Glen. He glanced to his watch. It was about a quarter past five. Alex noticed him doing so.

"Keys are still here. Wanna just drive this hunk of junk, or shall I?" She said with a sinister smile.

Derrick leaned his back against the van. "In your dreams shortstop." He said while closing his eyes. Alex blew raspberries at him from within the van.

Glen finally showed a few minutes later. He seemed in a better mood. Most likely sampled the advertised 'cold beer'. But Derrick wasn't worried about it.

"Know where were going yet?" Glen asked placing his sunglasses back on.

"Yeah." Derrick passed up the paper to him.

"Okay, seat belt up if you will." He said while starting the van. He checked behind his shoulder for traffic, which seemed non-existent in this town, and continued down Main Street towards Uncle Edwards.

They arrived to his street a few minutes later after driving through some of the side streets of Jericho. To Derrick the town seemed borderline Twilight Zone with its picture perfect looking homes and joyful children playing in well manicured yards.

Glen turned on to Red Fox Road driving slowly looking at the houses for their address numbers. The neighborhood of The Meadows seemed quaint and quiet. Tall trees lined the street next to shaded sidewalks. There seemed be mostly two story family sized homes with good sized porches and they had either wooden or plastic siding.

The street eventually came to curve that went to the left. Derrick imagined it in his mind. It was like a sideways U that would eventually take them back to Meadow Street. At the bottom of the U, which faced the east, they passed a large home set a ways back from the road. It had large windows facing the front and was done up like an enormous cabin surrounded by many trees. There was a long gravel driveway that curved to it. Derrick knew one would have to be quite wealthy to afford that home.

Glen took them all the way to the top of the other side of the U and finally located the address' numbers above a garage with a maroon Ford pickup truck parked in front of it on gravel. Their Uncle's house was a two story, but it seemed to be one of the smaller ones on Red Fox Road. The home was in the middle part of the U right where Meadow intersected Red Fox. It faced the north.

"End of the line it seems." Glen said getting out. He went to the back to get their bags while Derrick and Alex exited.

It felt almost surreal to Derrick that they were finally here while just this morning they were in a large city in Arizona.

Derrick wasn't sure exactly how Alex felt, but he had a knot in his stomach. There was the truck out front. But was he actually home? Did he really not go to Denver to pick them up? Why not?

Glen placed their bags on the sidewalk next to them. "Alright, all done and what not."

Derrick took the hint and dug in his pocket. He gave Glen the promised payment. Glen didn't count it, but merely placed it in a pocket taking Derrick to his word.

"Thanks." He said. "You two alright here? I need to really get back on the highway. Want to get back to Denver before it gets too late."

Alex gave a questioned look to Derrick.

"Yeah we'll be fine." He went to Glen and shook his hand. It felt like the right thing to do at the time. "Thanks a bunch. Drive safe."

Glen paused and nodded a few times. "Take care. Don't let these farmers push you around none." He smiled and gave a quick wave. He then got back in his van, gave a quick honk of his horn, and turned down Meadow Street.

Derrick mused that they would likely die of boredom before anyone or anything else had a chance to faze them. He turned to Alex. "Well, shall we?" He picked up their bags and walked up a few steps to a covered porch.

Alex was the one to ring the doorbell. Derrick placed their heavy bags down. They waited for the door to be answered. They soon would be face to face with their Uncle, which they had not seen in quite a long time.


End file.
